Bargain Basement.

I love a good bargain, who doesn't? Yet I've learnt over the years, no matter how cheap a product is, if it doesn't fit no amount of "losing a couple of kilos and it'll fit fine" makes the purchase worthwhile in the end. We are so accustomed to hunting for bargains and not paying recommended retail that we have given birth to the "daily deals craze" that fill my inbox every day with discounts from laser hair removal, through teeth whitening all the way through to travel deals hard to believe. From Spreet, through Living Social to Scoopon and other daily hawkers, the deals seem too good to be true as new players hit the web looking to cash in on a Groupon IPO scenario.

Yet as they exist and proliferate, in the end, I wonder who wins out of this process? The sites promise their clients new business and a quick cash injection but how long does this fix last and are all those new customers actually new or are some your old customers? Unfortunately the daily deals sites haven't been around long enough and don't really report on such needed information. This leads many to question the long term viability of such a marketing blitz and what it does for small businesses, who seem the most targetted by the daily sites.

The travel sector is also encountering the daily deal sites and I'm not convinced it won't cause damage to a sector which still has a way to go, to get back to pre GFC conditions. All the daily deal sites show, are companies with financial anxieties, companies fishing for the same fish in the same pond, companies who could be damaging their brand and unsustainable discounts. While the onus on how much the consumer can save seems to be the "hook" and don't we just love a bargain, it often becomes difficult for the company providing the product to continue servicing the discount or worse, recovering from a discount perception and losing any long term customers based on a quality product.

I admit to looking through the daily deals but over the last six months I have not found anything to tempt me to part with my hard earned money. I thought for certain that 90% would not appeal to me and that somewhere in the remaining 10% I would find the bargain of the century. So far that bargain has remained elusive and it probably has as much to do with my self I imposed standard for quality and the stories of companies laboring under the heavy discounts and not being able to supply their product with the professional service and quality they deserve. Do I need a resort holiday with a room over looking the car park in rainy season, a car tune up not available till 2013 or even a whiskey tasting in a part of town where I need police protection?

The Groupon IPO will make a lot of money for the people in charge when it hits the market but it sure sounds and smells a lot like a bubble and the first to cash in on this daily craze will be the only ones to make any money. Grab that hair removal special before they sell out or the company goes bust.